On the seventh day after death, people are dragged into a city where dusk never ends.
A colossal bronze bell hangs over the city center. It rings once every seven days, and wherever its toll falls, a rule-based instance descends.
Survive an instance and earn an “Echo.” Fail, and you become part of the rules.
Lu Chen died on a rainy night while pursuing a murderer.
When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on the gray-white streets of Seven Day City. In his pocket was only a yellowed slip of paper:
“Welcome to Seven Day City. Live, or become part of the rules.”
His awakened Echo Eye can see loopholes behind the rules, but every use sends his sanity sliding closer to the monsters. The day his corruption reaches its limit, he will no longer be Lu Chen.
The first instance is Happy Apartments.
An old woman delivering congee, Sister Hua who only smiles, a monster in the elevator that imitates human voices, a cat that circles endlessly, and an empty bowl engraved with the word “Down.” Six rules contradict one another, and every choice is a trap.
Until he smashes a window and takes a bloodstained piece of glass from the old woman.
Four words appear on the glass: “Stop climbing through windows.”
The bell rings again.
The truth of Seven Day City is hidden inside a god's corpse. Everyone who clears an instance is merely helping choose a successor for a “god” that has long been dead.
And the serial killer he personally caught died on that same day.
Now, he is in this city too.
It meets my expectations when I see it. It looks good.